How to Care for Your Digital Camera

Okay. Now we’re going to discuss taking care of your camera. While these cameras are
amazingly rugged and they take a lot of abuse, you wouldn’t believe how much these
cameras can take. Like any object with more than one working part, it’s subject to some
malfunction, it’s subject to weather.

Now one of the things that most cameras are subject to is other people. Don’t ever leave
your camera in an unlocked car, it’s so inviting. I as a professional, if I saw a camera in
the car, I would have a hard time not going in for myself. Also, don’t leave your camera
in front of the dashboard, the sunlight can heat your camera and that ruins your
electronics, it can actually destroy your camera. Keep your camera in a place that has a
constant temperature. It could be a little warm, it could be 80 degrees or so, but if it’s
constant, it’s when it goes from 80 degrees to 30 degrees that you might have a little
problem.

Another thing in taking care of your camera if you have it outside is dust and dirt. These
are very handy, they’re inexpensive. Brush off the dust, you have a little bit of a blower.
Keep it clean like that, this is very handy. Now, another thing that I see people doing and
this drives me crazy is that I’ll see somebody breathe on their lens and they’ll wipe it on
their shirt. You are going to ruin the coating on your lens. You’re going to ruin your lens,
please don’t ever do that. Here’s a little tip. Go over to your local optician, ask them for a
lens cloth for your eyeglasses and a little bit of lens cleaning fluid. They will give it to
you for their own publicity or they’ll charge you a couple of dollars. It is a lifesaver for
your camera. You also have the eyepiece and you have the readout over here. And with
most digital cameras today, you have this back here. Keep this clean, keep her protected.

Another thing some people do is they take a little bit of cellophane and they put scotch
tape over there and keep it over there. It doesn’t affect your picture taking quality and it
protects. Now I said before, I like going out and shooting all sorts of weather. I will be
shooting in rain, in snow because I always wanted to get my picture and there’s some
very interesting pictures you can get in rain and snow and we’re going to go over that
later about when is the best. Let’s say you’re pictures are flowers, perfect in rainy
weather over cast weather.

Now, they have out there housings for your camera which run in the hundreds of dollars.
Sometimes, they’re more expensive than your actual camera. I’m going to show you a
little trick. I have to find it first but we do have it here ladies and gentlemen. It is hidden.
Ah! Here we go. This is what’s known as a poor person’s housing for your camera, that
is. It fits over your camera, you put the lens through the hole. Now, always make the hole
a little bit smaller. It goes over here. And now, I can shoot in the rain, I can shoot in the
snow, it keeps the moisture and the dust off. Sometimes when you’re shooting outside,
the wind is blowing, there’s dust, there’s earth flying in there that gets into your lens and
other camera parts, and it’s sometimes even more expensive to repair than getting a new
camera. So always take those precautions. As I said before, put your camera under your
shirt. That keeps the temperature regulated.

So anything for flash. Now, another thing to be careful of ladies and gentlemen is that
rain can short circuit your flash. It could short circuit the camera and you could get a
nasty shock. We want to be careful there. So always remember, treat your camera as if
it’s a living object. Take care of it and it will get you all those pictures in almost any
situation out there.